50 and older, I’m sorry, but in my personal experience, your advice has been a little out of date.
Cheap used EVs are great, but if you are still in college, you don’t need that much range, so a beater leaf is even cheaper.
Your refusal to go into credit card debt in your 20s was great. Continue not fucking doing that.
Denying every indulgence makes you explode in spending desperation once you eventually get a windfall. Instead, ration indulgences, don’t forbid them. Get familiar with “this was expensive. I shouldn’t do that often.” It will make resisting temptation much easier with the new shiney XL+909T comes out when you’re older.
Lots of good tips in here already.
I would recommend checking out The Money Guys or Caleb Hammer on YouTube for some great tips with actionable goals.
Lose fat and build muscle. You will be more financially stable when you’re healthy.
I’m over 50 so apparently I don’t count. But if I did I would say maximize salary. Live below your means. Invest because compound interest is your biggest ally.
lol don’t ask us. we’re just as fucked as you. :\
Get in the habit of wearing a backbrace. When you move something heavy, when you work in the yard, whenever you need to bend or twist a lot. Backbrace.
Good boots, gloves, kneelers etc. Good quality tools. Your tools (your body especially) are an investment. Buy quality. Buy to last. Take good care of them. Per the literals. I swear by Kobalt and Dewalt.
No matter what the situation, you’re not financially behind yet, but if nothing changes in 10 years, you will be.
Save and invest. If you don’t have at least $200k net worth by the time you’re 40, you’re probably never going to retire.
Don’t assume the future will be better than the past
Don’t worry about money, worry about your health. Form the habits now, and stick with them.
Everyone will tell you that, and you’ll just ignore them, we all know it. But, we feel like we should say it anyway.
It’s really fucking important. Far more important than money.
401k now.
I think I maybe signed up for it when I was 23? I’ll have to look into it again
Check that your fund allocation is appropriate (e.g. a target-date fund or otherwise 80%+ stocks). It would be an absolute disaster if your money has just been sitting in the cash sweep account this whole time.
Also, up your contribution percentage to max it out.
I was a dumbass and withdrew my first one when I changed jobs around age 26. That job had profit sharing too. Such a waste.
Daily intermittent fasting is a great way to save on your food and toilet paper expenditure.
Spoken like a true capitalist \s
Just do all the crazy shit. You live only once and soon your back will ache every day.
If you can afford a house, try as hard as you can not to buy a house that you can barely afford with a 30yr mortgage. Limit yourself to a house where you can afford it with a 15yr mortgage. I did that in my 30s and now in my 40s I don’t have a mortgage anymore. Obviously with the current housing market this advice won’t help many.
To those people, I’d say: stop using a basic savings account. Get a High Yield Savings Account. They pay 3.5-4% interest at the moment. Zero risk, and you can even havd a card attached to it for spending. They’re liquid. Got 1k sitting in savings? That’s $35/yr free money you’re missing out on. 10k? $350/yr. Best part? When inflation starts going crazy and the fed increases interest rates to control it, your money starts making even more money. Not enough to fix everything, but it does help a little.
If you can, max out your 401k. Put money in a Roth IRA too.
If you want to play with stocks safely use index funds. Something like SPY for the S&P500. 98% of day traders lose money. Every trade someone makes is measured against the market. The trade you made increased 2% in the last week? Well, the market was up 2.8%. It’s like gambling and the market is the house. The market eventually always wins and everyone else loses.
If you can afford a house, try as hard as you can not to buy a house that you can barely afford with a 30yr mortgage. Limit yourself to a house where you can afford it with a 15yr mortgage. I did that in my 30s and now in my 40s I don’t have a mortgage anymore. Obviously with the current housing market this advice won’t help many.
I got a 30 year mortgage at a fixed 2.something % 15 years ago and am very happy with that because I could invest more in stocks with a higher rate of return.
'Course, with the current interest rates that won’t help many either…
At least contribute to your 401k to get the full match from your employer if offered. More if you can afford it. Time in the market is huge. Make a budget, have emergency savings. There’s little point in investing if an emergency happens and you have to withdraw your retirement at a potential loss, and that’s before penalties and tax. Take care of your body, especially joints. Be even a little bit active regularly. Figure out a decently healthy diet. These will help prevent health issues which can be expensive. Plus you might look better and feel better too.
All of this sound like too much? Pick one or two and try doing them consistently even if it’s half assed. Half assing something consistently for a long time is much, much better than putting in a ton of effort, burning out, and returning to old patterns. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
Sorry I know that kinda veered into fitness but I see a lot of parallels in personal finance and fitness/nutrition. Both involve budgets and benefit from a plan and spreadsheets.
